5th Advanced Research Seminar on Audio Description
Barcelona, 19th-20th March 2015
arsad
Audio Description and Film Experience:
Design of a Reception Study
advanced research seminar
on audio description
Floriane Bardini, Universitat de Vic, Catalonia (Spain) – [email protected]
A UDIO
DESCRIPTION , FILM LANGUAGE , FILM EXPERIENCE
Film experience is a phenomenological encounter between film and viewer which happens through different modes and channels (verbal
and non-verbal, audio and visual) at a sensory, sensual, cognitive and emotional level.
Film language is constructed through cinematic techniques and is expressed in how images are shown and combined between themselves
and with the soundtrack. The connotative meaning conveyed by film language is at least as crucial for film experience as images themselves.
We are conducting a reception study on the film experience of persons with visual impairment (VIPs) in Catalonia, testing three AD styles: a
conventional AD version and two AD versions where film language is included in the description. The AD styles to be tested can be positioned
respectively towards the beginning, the middle and the end of Kruger’s description-narration continuum (Kruger 2010)1.
M ETHODOLOGICAL
APPROACH TO AD DESIGN FOR THE RECEPTION STUDY
To test our three AD styles, we set up a framework to ensure that our
variable – the inclusion of the meaning conveyed by film language – is the
only parameter modified in the three AD versions.
Following the new ADLAB audio description guidelines (Remael et al. 2014)2
we use a functional approach to characterize the three AD styles to be
tested, which implies:
• Functional approach to strategic decisions at a macro and micro
level (represented in Fig. 1).
• Target text oriented analysis of the source text (bottom-up matrix
of AD related issues5, Fig. 3).
• Cinematic analysis of the source text (phasal
analysis5,
Fig. 4).
We put this methodology into practice in our reception study using Nuit
Blanche, by Arev Manoukian (Spy Films 2009), a short film that takes the
spectator into a surrealistic fleeting moment between a man and a woman
and where visual effects play a great connotative and aesthetic role (Fig. 2).
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“Return to reality”
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Follow current guidelines: UNE
153020 norm (AENOR 2005)3
and AD professional practice.
Stray away from guidelines to
include the aesthetics and
meaning of film language in the
AD, as advised by latest
research (e.g. Perego 2014)4.
Operative AD brief
Explicitely
descriptive AD(a)
Descriptiveinterpretative Ad(b)
Narrative Ad (c)
(a)
Explicitly descriptive AD: conventional AD following current guidelines
by describing what is shown on screen at a denotative level.
(b) Descriptive-interpretative AD: AD that offers a balance between
interpretation of film language and denotative description.
(c) Narrative AD: AD that concentrates on interpreting the film’s message
and translating it into a coherent narration.
Fig. 1 Functionalist approach to multiple AD design
Music and sounds
Sounds of the street
Gestures and facial expressions
Expressive faces
Cinema techniques
Dissolution
Non verbal visual elements
She sits at the café; her glass of wine is intact.
1d
AD should allow
VIPs to “perceive
the message as a
harmonious work
which is as similar
as possible to that
which is perceived
by the sighted.”
(AENOR 2005,
translation by
Utray et al.) 3
Macro level strategy
Spatio-temporal characteristics
A restaurant (Café de Flore)
The street, a corporate building
Intratextual references
Same place(s) as in the beginning
Broken glass is sound again
Fig. 3 Bottom-up analysis matrix5 (last film fragment)
Fig. 2 Frames from Nuit Blanche’s denouement
Fragment number
and name
Primary AD brief
He stands in front of the corporate building.
Their faces are very expressive.
Non verbal audio elements
Transition to fragment
Editing technique: dissolve
No music
Sounds of the street (cars pass by)
Music cut: lyrical orchestral music
stops, sounds of the street resume
Fig. 4 Phasal analysis5 of Nuit Blanche (last film fragment)
Different AD styles for different audio described versions of Nuit Blanche’s denouement:
Explicitly descriptive AD style:
Descriptive-interpretative AD style:
Narrative AD style (audio narration or AN):
[…] Their lips come closer. ... The woman sits
back at the café with her glass of wine. The man
stands in front of the corporate building. They look
at each other and smile softly.
Iconic description6 and minimal description of the
facial expressions. Spectators have to realize by
themselves what happened.
[…] Their lips are about to touch … but reality
takes over. The woman sits at the café while the
man stands across the street. They look at each
other and smile meaningfully.
Cognitive description6 and some interpretation of
the facial expressions allow the audience to
better grasp the meaning and feeling of the scene.
[…] As they are about to kiss, the magic ends and
reality takes over. They have not moved from their
spot, yet the way they smile at each other reveals
that, for an instant, the fantasy was real.
Narrative description6 with interpretation of film
language and facial expressions, which narrates
rather than describe the scene.
E XPERIMENTAL
DESIGN , TESTING AND EVALUATION
Further methodological aspects of the reception study conception reside in the hybrid experimental design, with the use of both
quantitative and qualitative methods to collect information.
For the quantitative data gathering, we opted for a semi-experimental design. VIP participants shall complete an online questionaire
after hearing one AD version. Their answers will be contrasted with the data gathered through a survey among sighted viewers who had
watched Nuit Blanche without AD (results presented at the 10th Languages and the Media Conference, Berlin, November 5-7 2014).
In order to gather qualitative data on the film experience of VIPs with the tested AD styles, and gain insights into their preferences,
volunteers will be invited to participate in focus group interviews.
Works cited:
Jan Louis. 2010. “Audio narration: re-narrativising film”. Perspectives: Studies in Translatology 18 (3): 231–249.
2 Remael, Aline; Gert Vercauteren and Nina Reviers (eds.). 2014. Pictures painted in words. The ADLAB audio description guidelines. Available online at goo.gl/JbOf4H (last consulted 15/02/26).
3 AENOR. 2005. Norma UNE 153020. “Audiodescripción para personas con discapacidad visual. Requisitos para la audiodescripción y elaboración de audioguías”. Madrid: AENOR.
4 Perego, Elisa. 2014. “Chapter 5: Film language and tools”. In Anna Maszerowska; Anna Matamala and Pilar Orero (eds.). Audio Description: New Perspectives Illustrated. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
5 Taylor, Chris. 2014. “The ADLAB Project: New Perspectives on Audio Description”. Paper presented at the 10th Languages and the Media Conference, Berlin, Germany, November 5-7.
6 Bardini, Floriane. 2013. “Audio Description of Cinematographic Language: A Comparative Study of Several Describers’ Approaches”. Paper presented at the 4th ARSAD, Barcelona, Spain, March 13–14.
1 Kruger,